A project was undertaken at San Juan College, in New Mexico, to examine findings from several studies of student persistence and retention to shed light on factors influencing persistence at the college. The project took into account several definitions of persistence, including re-enrollment in the subsequent semester (semester to semester), re-enrollment the following fall semester (fall to fall), and persistence in relation to indicators of student educational goals such as full-time or degree seeking status. Results of the project indicated the following: (1) in 1991 and 1992, fall to fall persistence rates for part-time (PT) degree seeking students were 42% and 35%, respectively, and 59% and 46% for full-time (FT) degree-seeking students; (2) semester to semester persistence rates for fall 1993 were 79% for FT students and 45% for PT students, with higher fall to spring persistence rates than spring to fall rates; (3) in general, FT, regular students persisted at higher rates than part-time or provisional students; (4) 54% of students who left after one semester reported that they had achieved their educational goals; (5) common reasons for students not returning after the first semester included a lack of desired courses (15%), family responsibilities (14%), and job (12%) responsibilities; and (6) 28% of non-returners planned to re-enroll at the college within the following year. (MAB)